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Ukrainian operator Kyivstar starts service for SMS

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Voice capability and data to follow next year

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Service to enhance resilience during blackouts

KYIV, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Ukraine's largest mobile

operator Kyivstar has become the first in Europe to launch

Starlink's direct-to-cell satellite technology in a bid to keep

millions connected amid wartime blackouts and disrupted

infrastructure, the company said on Monday.

Kyivstar is initially offering SMS capabilities via the

technology and plans to extend to voice and data next year,

under a deal between Elon Musk's Starlink and telecoms group

Veon, the owner of Kyivstar.

"In Ukraine, staying connected means staying safe,"

Kyivstar's CEO Oleksandr Komarov said in a statement, adding

that the service would enhance network resilience. Kyivstar

serves about 22.5 million mobile customers in Ukraine.

PROLONGED BLACKOUTS, DAMAGED NETWORKS

The service would enable customers to remain connected on

regular 4G smartphones during prolonged blackouts, in recently

de-occupied territories where terrestrial networks could be

damaged or under restoration, and during rescue and humanitarian

missions.

The company has already ramped up its measures to keep its

network online by adding batteries and generators to provide

more than 10 hours of continuous coverage when the grid power is

not available due to long blackouts, Komarov said.

During nearly four years of the war, Russia frequently

struck the Ukrainian power sector and other infrastructure with

hundreds of drones and missiles, damaging electricity

distribution and generation capacities and forcing long

blackouts.

Direct-to-cell technology allows smartphones to connect to

satellite networks in space that beam telephone signals back to

Earth.

Ukraine's armed forces are heavily reliant on Starlink

terminals for battlefield communications and some drone

operations. More than 50,000 terminals are currently in

operation in Ukraine, according to officials.

Starlink, provides internet services via a constellation of

low-Earth orbit satellites and is widely used in remote areas

and conflict zones.